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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/aipoch/open-science/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Open Science can be installed in two ways: by downloading a pre-built release binary for your platform, or by building the application from source. Both paths are covered below. If you want to contribute to the project or run a hot-reload development environment, see the Development mode section at the bottom.

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Pre-Built Downloads

Pre-built binaries are published on the GitHub Releases page. Download the installer for your operating system and follow the platform notes below.
PlatformInstaller format
macOS.dmg disk image
WindowsNSIS .exe installer
Linux.AppImage, .deb, .snap

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macOS

Download the .dmg file from the Releases page, open it, and drag Open Science to your Applications folder.
Open Science is not notarized by Apple — it is distributed without an Apple Developer ID certificate. The build pipeline applies a deep ad-hoc signature at pack time to prevent the unrecoverable “Open Science is damaged and can’t be opened” Gatekeeper error, but a downloaded copy will still show “Open Science can’t be opened because the developer cannot be verified” on first launch.To open it anyway, use either of these methods:
  • Right-click (or Control-click) the app → Open, then confirm in the dialog that appears — the standard macOS flow for apps from unidentified developers.
  • Clear the quarantine attribute from Terminal before launching: 
    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Open Science.app"
    Adjust the path if you installed the app somewhere other than /Applications.
This is expected behaviour for any build compiled outside a notarized release channel — it is not a sign of a corrupted download.

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Windows

Download the NSIS .exe installer from the Releases page and run it. The installer creates a desktop shortcut and adds Open Science to your Start menu automatically.

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Linux

Three package formats are available for Linux:
  • .AppImage — self-contained, runs without installation. Make it executable (chmod +x) and run it directly.
  • .deb — for Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions. Install with sudo dpkg -i <file>.deb.
  • .snap — for systems with snapd installed. Install with sudo snap install --dangerous <file>.snap.
Download your preferred format from the Releases page.

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Build from Source

Building from source gives you the exact same packaged application as a release binary, but compiled on your own machine. You’ll need Node.js, npm, and Git.
1

Install prerequisites

Make sure the following are installed before proceeding:
  • Node.js (LTS or newer) with npm included
  • Git
Verify your versions:
node --version
npm --version
git --version
2

Clone the repository and install dependencies

git clone https://github.com/aipoch/open-science.git
cd open-science
npm install
The postinstall script runs automatically after npm install. It executes prisma generate (generates the local database client) and electron-builder install-app-deps (compiles native Electron dependencies for your platform). No additional setup commands are required.
3

Build for your platform

Run the build command for your operating system. Each command compiles the renderer and main bundles with electron-vite and then packages the app with electron-builder. Note: build:win additionally runs a full TypeScript type-check first (via npm run build); build:mac and build:linux skip the type-check step and invoke electron-vite build directly.
npm run build:mac
The Linux build produces all three formats (.AppImage, .deb, .snap) in a single run.
4

Find the packaged output

Once the build completes, the installer files are in the dist/ directory at the root of the repository:
dist/
├── open-science-0.1.0.dmg          # macOS disk image
├── open-science-0.1.0-setup.exe    # Windows NSIS installer
├── open-science-0.1.0.AppImage     # Linux AppImage
├── open-science-0.1.0.deb          # Linux Debian package
└── open-science-0.1.0.snap         # Linux snap package
Open or run the appropriate installer for your platform to install the packaged app. On macOS, see the Gatekeeper warning above — the same note applies to self-built binaries.

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Development Mode

If you want to run Open Science with hot-reload (e.g., to contribute to the project or inspect the app as you edit code), use the dev command instead of building a packaged binary: 
npm run dev
This starts the Electron main and preload bundles, launches the renderer dev server on localhost:5173, and opens the desktop window. Development data is stored under ~/.open-science-project and never touches a production install’s data at ~/.open-science. See the Quickstart for a full walk-through of the development workflow.

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Available npm Scripts

ScriptDescription
npm run devStart in hot-reload dev mode
npm run buildType-check then build (renderer + main bundles)
npm run build:macBuild macOS DMG
npm run build:winType-check then build Windows NSIS installer
npm run build:linuxBuild Linux (AppImage, deb, snap)
npm startPreview a production build (electron-vite preview)
npm run lintRun ESLint
npm run formatRun Prettier (writes formatting fixes)
npm run typecheckTypeScript type-check (main + renderer)
npm testRun Vitest unit tests

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